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Nuclear waste—the radioactive by-product from nuclear power generation, nuclear weapons and medical isotope production—is one of the most challenging types of waste for our society to manage. Its high radioactivity requires that it be safely isolated from humans and the environment until it no longer poses a hazard; of the order of a million years. This review will show that nuclear waste management is a world of materials science and engineering challenges that must stand the test of time, from designing engineered facilities to isolate waste from future civilisations, to inventing new materials to immobilise weapons-grade and surplus civil plutonium. Due to the ever-changing nature of nuclear waste, which transforms its chemical composition and physical properties through radioactive decay processes, nuclear waste management is also a race against time that will continue to drive research and development for many years to come.

Copyright © IOP Publishing Ltd 2018
Online ISBN: 978-0-7503-1638-5